


One of a Kind, a Pair of Fools

by Neftzer_nettlestonenell



Category: Robin Hood (BBC 2006)
Genre: Angst, F/M, POV Second Person, Rare Characters, Rare Pairings, Unusual Pairings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 10:57:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13680303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neftzer_nettlestonenell/pseuds/Neftzer_nettlestonenell
Summary: Guy's treachery (and also the lure of it) brings two of his victims together.Occurs post-2x01, pre-opening credits on 2x05, so sometime between Allan's capture and torture by Gisborne, but before his getting sacked from the gang, or his night meeting at the Trip to chat about Henry of Lewes' impending ambush.





	One of a Kind, a Pair of Fools

Your heart died a little more at the terrifying sight of Gisborne's signal, the inverted rune drawn now in ochre on the post outside the Trip.   
  
  
_The Trip_. A place that had always brought you such happiness, such fun. No longer. More called to mind something you had heard once about men loving the night because their deeds were evil. Well, the inside of the Trip, its back rooms in particular, seeming more and more like descending into a permanent night than they ever had before.  
  
  
He was already there, wearing yet another in a line of appropriated-from-another cloaks. Too short a length for such a tall man, not enough black, nor leather, to track as Gisborne's self-imposed uniform.  
  
  
The wench was there, too. Acting as though she wished to serve the Sheriff's lieutenant an ale. But she knew as well as did you that Gisborne never imbibed in his time at the Trip. It was clear she was after a spot of something shiny for herself, however she had to go about the earning of it.   
  
  
He dismissed her, and purposefully, you thought, looming over you in the unnatural midday darkness of the enclosed, windowless space, demanded, "Where is the kitchen girl?"  
  
  
"Annie?" you asked, knowing better than to feign ignorance so early on in his questioning.  
  
  
"I want to know where Hood has concealed her.  _And_  the child."  
  
  
" _Your_  child." Once you said it, you rather wished you hadn't.  
  
  
"If you do not know," he warned, his sharp nose matched by the glint in his eyes. "You will find out where. And you will tell me."  
  
  
The jangle of coin thrown to the packed-earth floor signaled his exit, abrupt as always.  
  


* * *

  
  
As you were in Nottingham, it made sense to steal into the castle and chat up Marian.  
  
  
Your heart pounded with the thought of giving up Annie's location to Gisborne, the small boy Seth now no longer a mere mewling babe that kept those around him from their rest. But  _you_  could not go. You could not do it. Not you. What if somehow you were followed as you sought to warn them? If, in that instant you had not managed to properly shake Gisborne's erratically set tail on you?  
  
  
Marian had half-scowled as you broached the subject to her. "Grapevine has it that Gis is on the lookout for Annie and Seth," you told her.  
  
  
Understandably she was never very keen on discussing either Gisborne's illegitimate child, his mother, or the ensuing circumstances of abandoning same child in the forest to die.  
  
  
"How shall we get word without tipping anyone off?"  
  
  
"My hands are tied, here," she told you, truthfully, referencing her total confinement to the castle, her every day now spent under guard. Guard posted just beyond her chamber door even now as you met with her, your tones hushed to prevent discovery.  
  
  
But you read her. You always could. She  _did_  have a way--though a risky one. And one she had no plans to share with you.  
  
  
"Very well, when you see her," you told her, "tell her...tell her Allan says--take care."  _Crikey_  but how you did not wish Annie to think you had abandoned her, given up on little Seth, the girl already having more than her fair share of disappointments in life without adding you to that pile.   
  
  
What you meant to say to Marian, of course was, ' _tell her that her hair smells like a clear dawn, that her extended, inviting hands were the best part of her embrace. That her child would be a good man--despite his father--because she had such a talent for loving. A gift when it came to having faith in someone_ '.  
  
  
Of course you said none of these things.  
  


* * *

  
  
Those long months ago you had been sent by Robin in the general direction of Lady Glasson's far away estate to research the true loyalties of several of the outlying nobles, by means of falling in among their serfs and sussing out how said nobles ran their holdings, whether when at home, on their own lands, they served the Sheriff's interests or Richard's.  
  
  
It had seemed natural to stop in and see Annie. And her babe.  
  
  
Additionally, you had found that it also had seemed natural to let her kiss you, to sneak out one sunny day into the un-mown fields together, grinning like children, baring skin by patches in the sunlight.  
  
  
You remembered the look in her eyes when you had brought her Seth's shawl, how the emotion playing in them, feelings for a lost son had affected you so deeply, also a lost son.  
  
  
She recalled how it had been you who had gone one-on-one with Gisborne in her direct defense. Your arm extended to her to raise her from where he had lashed out in attack of her.  
  
  
She was lonely, still trying to fit in into her new position, her new community.  
  
  
You were surprised at the force of the sentiment that overtook you upon seeing her, the pleasure in her company, the appealing charm she emanated in this very-different-from-Nottingham place.  
  
  
You  _knew_  you would never do anything to jeopardize that.  
  


* * *

  
  
And yet, here you were: Allan and Annie. Two sides of the Gisborne coin.  _Why would you believe he would treat you fairly? Deal with you honestly?_  He had not so treated her.   
  
  
_Why did you agree time after time to re-enter into this traitor's pact with him?_  A man who would set his child out to die, lie to and mistreat its mother. And now, chillingly, wish to locate them. With intent unknown.  
  
  
Marian knew nothing of your being compromised.  
  
  
Then why did you want so desperately to secure her promise that she would not tell Annie that you, also, had fallen prey to Gisborne? The man she had seen as vanquishing that bully, that monster, that  _sod_. Brought low, now taking his money--but not in a clean, grifter's swindle.  
  


* * *

  
  
So you were decided, You would go, you would have a try at it, feeding Guy faulty information. Spinning a yarn about where you had been told Annie and Seth were. He would pay in gold for it, a water-tight feint.  
  
  
And if it worked--(It would work. Of course it would work) you would press your luck next time a step further. You would deal false in information about the gang's intended movements. Gisborne would be left with the pleasure of believing he had subverted Robin's (entirely fabricated by you) plans. Robin would not be compromised.  _You_  would not be at selling out the lads. Coin in your purse, self-respect again visible on the horizon. Not bein' funny, but what was  _not_  to like about that?  
  
  
**The End**


End file.
